It appears the sentiment that trailed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) clearance of the forex backlog in banks, which has seen the Naira reverse its depreciating trend, has waned and reality is setting in.
This is as the Nigerian currency, for the third consecutive day this week, continued to depreciate at both the official and parallel market against the US Dollar.
At the close of trading on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, the Naira slumped at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (“NAFEM”) and the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window.
The domestic currency closed at N874.71/$1 at the close of business on Wednesday, data from the NAFEM window where forex is officially traded, showed.
This represents an N4.8 loss or a 0.55% decline in the local currency compared to the N869.91 it closed on Tuesday.
The intraday high recorded was N1097.50/$1, while the intraday low was N745.00/$1, representing a wide spread of N352.50/$1.
According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading was $223.52 million, representing a 60.1% increase compared to the previous day.
Similarly, the Naira weakened at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, and the exchange rate depreciated, quoted at N1130/$1 against the N1120/$1 the previous day.
Meanwhile, the British Pound has also appreciated against the naira to ₦1,280/£1 while the Euro also gained against the naira to ₦1,072.545/€1.